


Attempting

by Dumbassv2



Category: Epithet Erased (Cartoon)
Genre: (I'll add in more character tags as they get added into the story), Abuse, Child Abuse, IT'S NOT UNTAGGING, M/M, Major Character Injury, Not Beta Read, Pints of fluff, Suicide Attempt, Suicide Attempts, THIS IS NOT RAMSEY GIO STUFF I SWEAR, WHY IS IT STILL TAGGED AS M/M I HAVENT EVEN POSTED THE M/M CHAPTER YET (this tag is from chapter 1), hey currently adding this tag while writing the first chapter and, starts off decently fluffy so thats fun, this is starting off super fluffy oh my god ???? why
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:48:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24647476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dumbassv2/pseuds/Dumbassv2
Summary: Three times Giovanni [attempted] and one time he could stop himself (with assistance, of course :))
Relationships: Crusher & Giovanni Potage, Fred "Car Crash" Donaldson & Giovanni Potage, Giovanni Potage & Ramsey Murdoch, Ramsey Murdoch & Giovanni Potage, by later i mean in chapter 4 so uh, later we'll have some crusher/gio content but for now.. nope
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	Attempting

**Author's Note:**

> REMEMBER: check the tags for any potential trigger warnings!
> 
> // also crusher's non-minion name's cole wendelson (you'll see the last name like once ok--)

Giovanni rubs his eyes, yawning. It's one of those silent yawns, but still a yawn. He blinks, his eyes still feel slightly heavy, but that'll go after a while. As his eyes adjust to consciousness, he's also mentally adjusting to consciousness. He looks around, his face slowly lighting up. It lights up like this for _two_ reasons, actually! He remembered yesterday was _his_ _birthday (he's 14 now)!_ You know what he did as a celebration? He invited his boys over! His moms actually allowed a full-on sleepover! Which brings us to our second reason- He and his Boys _(Fred Donaldson and his ol' friend Cole)_ must've fallen asleep while watching.. get this.. Coraline! Turns out, watching scary stuff with friends downgrades the scary level by, like, at least three!

Fred and Cole were still sleeping- though surprisingly, they weren't snoring. Just some comfy cuddles, good for the soul! He can just.. stay like this... until they two get up... He can even... close his eyes for a bit...

Aha! You thought that meant he was falling asleep, didn't you? Well, Giovanni isn't one to sleep easily- _especially_ after just sleeping. In which means he can enjoy this for as long as it takes for them to wake up! It feels warm, being huddled in blankets like this- it's just so comfortable, you know? It's not like he's allowed out at sleepovers often either. Don't get me wrong, Giovanni hangs out with his boys whenever he can! There are just certain rules that can only be broken under certain circumstances- a birthday party being one of them!

Fred mumbles something incomprehensible, moving his arm a bit. After a moment, he sits up, rubbing his eyes, "Giovanni..?? I thought your mom didn't allow..." His eyes open up a bit more. He lets out an "Ooohh..." The two grin at each other, Giovanni _would_ nudge Fred, but he doesn't want to wake Cole up, "There ya' go! Welcome back to the real world!" Fred giggles, before changing his face to look 'serious', "I'm honored to be back, I could have lost to the... good guys?? We _are_ the bad guys, right?" Giovanni nods, "Yeeup, that's us... We're the _baddest of the bad..._ "

The two giggle more- this time a bit louder than the last. This semi-loud giggling seemed to wake up Cole, "Hmnn... Hmm?? Whuzz the time.." Cole isn't fully awake yet- maybe he's just conditioned to ask that the moment he wakes up. Oh- get this- he _doesn't_ rub his eyes! Ohoho.. what a rebel. Giovanni raises his head a bit- "You know, that's.. a good question!" He leans his head back to face the clock, "9:37 am! We slept for like... When did we fall asleep..??" Fred shrugs, "I think we just... passed out eventually."

Giovanni thinks for a moment, he cringes, "D- ...Don't say it like that-" Fred smirks, "We passed out. We lost consciousness. We don't remember how or when we did, but we succumbed to our brain's desire to sleep." Cole groans, "Don' use big words outside o' school, I pleeaasseee..." Fred blows a raspberry, "The angular difference between two quadrilaterals--" Giovanni smacks- well, not smacks, that's mean, he moreso just plopped his left arm on Fred's face, "Shhhhh... Shh.. Let 'im wake up first." Cole nods, "Yuh-huh, gim.. gimme a second before you spew your.. words."

Fred sighs, "I guess I've been out-voted.. woe is me..." Giovanni scooches back a bit, Cole quickly sitting up after, realizing he was _kiiind of_ blocking Giovanni from moving much, "A-- I think! I'm awake now!" He mutters quickly, "Sorry, 'vanni." Giovanni sits up as well, "Eh, it's fine, I don't mind." He shrugs, mumbling, "Was pretty comfy, too." Giovanni stretches, not noticing Cole's reddening face being, well, reddened. You know who _did_ notice, though? Fred did! And he's silently ~~taunting Cole~~ giggling, like the amazing friend he is.

Giovanni lets out another yawn, "Wait... it's 9 am! You both have to gooo soooonnn... nnoo...." he leans on Cole, "Why must these twisted fates be bestowed upon us!?" After a quick silent moment, Giovanni's super-cool-sad-look breaks, "...I used the right words... right???" ...Fred bursts into a fit of giggles. "Wh??? Did I or did I not--" Uh oh! The giggles are contagious! And they've infected Cole! Giovanni stops leaning on Cole, now looks back and forth between the two, confused, "-Huh???? Guys???" The only answer he gets are the continued giggles- and honestly, it wasn't _that_ funny, but now since two people are laughing it's pretty hard to stop.

Cole's giggling slowly dies out, "I- heh- I- ye-ah, you.." He looks back at Fred, who was also calming. Keyword: _was_. The two make eye contact, bursting into laughter again. A grin forms on Giovanni's face, the giggles catching onto him now too. And that's.. that. The three just giggle non-stop. They're really trying to stop! But! It's, like, _impossible_ , you know?

Giovanni's mom knocks on the door, "Boooys? I can't tell if you're laughing or crying- can I come in?" Giovanni, the most structured of the three for once, responds, "H- Co-ome in!" He suppresses his snickers, which are his suppressed giggles... oh dear. This is quite difficult.

The door opens, revealing a now-relaxed mother. Her hair is.. brown. You'd expect her hair to be pink, but.. eh. It's fine, "Well, I'm glad you three are okay-" She gestures to the two laughing boys, who are slowly calming down "-but I'm afraid yer parents are here. We were just about to wake you three up, actually!" She chuckles, "How about you three come downstairs?" Cole nods, the giggles mostly gone now, "M'kay! We'll be down soon!" She smiles, "Alright! I'll be downstairs with your parents- the living room." She does a small wave before leaving the room.

Cole turns to Giovanni, "Your mom's nice." Giovanni rolls his eyes, "That's just 'cause we got guests, Co! She's usually, like, ten times louder!" He snickers, "Ohhh, if she's mad? You'll need _more_ than earplugs!" Fred nudges Giovanni playfully, "Hey, she's your mom! Show her some respect!" Giovanni snickers, "Never! I will forever be the... mom... disrespect-er..? Okay, no, that sounded better in my head-" Fred rolls his eyes, "Uhuh.." He's trying to suppress his smile for the sake of acting- and failing miserably.

Giovanni rolls over to a side of the bed, letting out a small "Oof-" when he stops. He sits up straight right after, "Alright, boys! You heard Mom- let's head down." He hops off the bed, Fred and Cole following after with their small nods. Once the three leave the room, they can start to hear their parents' voices from downstairs- though a bit muffled, "Oh, it was a treat having them! Thank you both again for letting them over, it really seemed to make Giovanni happy." Fred smiles, "Aaaawwhh! And you said your mom was-" Giovanni shoves his hand to Fred's mouth _(in the.. nicest way possible),_ "-Mffpphhpfh mffpfphhm." Giovanni sighs as he returns his hand to his own side. He speaks in a hushed tone, "Dude! My mom _might_ be kinda old but she can still hear you!" Fred snickers, now talking in the same hushed tone, "Sorry, sorry- couldn't help myself!" Despite the apology, he still has a big grin on his face- as does Giovanni.

The three make their way downstairs to see Ms.Donaldson and Ms.Wendelson at the door. Ms.Donaldson has brown hair, as one would expect, paired with brown eyes. She's wearing a green-vested top with your average jeans. Ms.Wendelson has black hair- her bangs kind of cover her eyes, but they're blue if you're wondering. Fred and Cole speak in unison, "Hi mom!" This.. happens a lot, so they're not as 'wow'ed by speaking in unison anymore, but it's still pretty funny to them. They chuckle a small bit before they say their almost-routinic, "Hi boys!"

Giovanni waves, "Hello!" Ah, what a sad, sad life... not having anybody to be in sync with. Oh, what a tragic fate... welp. Sucks to suck. Ms.Donaldson looks over at Fred, "Freddie, we have to go now- have you all said bye yet? Goodbye hugged?" Giovanni gasps... verbally, " _Gasp!_ We almost forgot!" He turns back to His Boys, "Goodbye, cadets... until next time?" Fred and Cole nod, "Until next time, captain!" They enter a hug, standard procedure for leaving one of the Boy's homes!

They giggle a bit after their hug is over, Fred and Cole already heading to the shoe-mat at the front door. Cole speaks as he ties his shoelaces, "That was _super fun!_ Can we have a sleepover at my place for my birthday???" Ms.Wendelson sighs, "Depends on if I'm home that day, but if not, we can see if one of your friends' parents are fine with it being at their place." Fred stands straight up, just finishing tying his shoelaces, "Oh! Oh! Mom, can we-" "-Yup." Fred raises a fist into the air, "Awh, heck yeah!"

Cole stands back up as well, now finishing tying his shoelaces, "Welp! See you on Tuesday!" Giovanni waves, "Seee yoouuu!! ..both!" His Boys give a small wave as they head out the front door with their mothers. Giovanni's mother closes the door behind them, turning to Giovanni. She seems to be trying to remember something...

"Oh! Right, I almost forgot to tell you!" Giovanni turns his head to face his mother, "Hm?" Her smile wavers a small bit, it's hard to notice, "Well, as you know, Momma's at work right now..." Giovanni nods, unsure of how else to react, "...and I just got called to help out Debbie--" Giovanni's eyes light up, cutting her off, "So I can stay _home alone?!"_ He squeals, "Ooooh, being 14 _rocks!!!"_ She puts a hand on his shoulder, "No, no, you're still going to be supervised." ..Huh? He raises a brow, "By who?"

"Well, uh, since I didn't have enough time to plan the timings and how I don't.. know the timings... and since all your other cousins are busy with their jobs... well..." The light in Giovanni's eyes begin to fade, "Mandy?!" His mother tries to deescalate things before Giovanni, you know, cries, "I know you two don't get along the best, but--"

The doorbell rings.

"--Ah. There he is." As his mother walks to the door, Giovanni tugs at her shirt, "Come on!! I'm- I'm 14! I can just stay home alone and I _promise I'll-be-good--"_ She sighs, "I'm sorry. There wasn't any other choice- and it's too late to bail out now." The two heads turn to the door- the doorbell rang... Giovanni looks back at his mother, "...Please?" She shakes her head, "I'm sorry. You can always call me if anything happens, okay?" Giovanni's grip loosens, allowing her to answer the door. This... isn't going to be good.

She opens the door, "Mandy! Hello, thanks for coming on such short notice." The teen nods, "Thanks for letting me over. I know I wasn't the best of friends with Giovanni the last time I met- so thank you for trusting me." His dark brown hair looks like it was hastily brushed right before this. He was tall for his age, though. Being only 2 years older than Giovanni, he still was at least two feet taller than him. Giovanni being the 4'7 that he was, Mandy was.. pretty tall to him _(and to most people)_. A cyan shirt can be seen underneath his jean jacket. Giovanni's mother smiles, "Of course. I'm trusting you to be good with Giovanni, correct?" Mandy nods, "Yes, Aunt Moa."

"Perfect. Alright, you two be good. Call me if you need me." She walks out, letting Mandy enter the house. He closes the door for her, his smile growing ever-so-slightly. He turns to Giovanni, "So. What's up?" Giovanni seems.. confused, "Huh..?" Mandy steps closer, "Are you deaf or somethin'? _How are you?"_ Giovanni blinks,"I'm... good..?" Mandy takes another step closer, "You sure? You don't look so sure of yourself." Giovanni steps back, noticing Mandy approaching, "Look, I don't know _what_ you're doing, but I'm not falling for it! If you think I'm just going to trust you after your little stunt- I'm not. So you can just go do whatever on your own, I'm not talking to you." Mandy scoffs, "Oh? Do you think giving me a wittle siwent tweawtmen' will do _anything_ , then you've gotta be some kind of _idiot_ , aren'tcha?" Giovanni crosses his arms, stepping back once more. He still isn't talking. "Hmph. Fine then." He mutters, "Always sucking the fun out of things, aren't you?"

Mandy snickers, "I can see you shakin'. What? Are you scared?" He steps closer, smirking at Giovanni, "Good. At least you have _some_ sort o' sense." He watches Giovanni step back.. he's going to bump into the wall soon enough. Mandy won't mention that though, it'll ruin the surprise! "Come on.. still giving me the silent treatment?" He steps closer, leading Giovanni to step back, "What do I need to do to get you to talk, hm?" He steps closer, and Giovanni- ...bumps into the wall behind him. Giovanni's breath hitches, still not saying a word. He's unsure if he's _willingly_ being silent or not anymore, "..Fine. I see how it is. I'll have to get it out of you then, hm?" Giovanni shakes his head, he'd plead, but he's still trying to stay silent. Mandy takes one last step closer, looming over Giovanni, "Too late. I already chose."

He holds Giovanni up by the collar of his hood, "You gonna talk?" Giovanni opens his mouth to talk- but.. nothing comes out. Why isn't he talking- "Teasing me, are you? Do you think you're _funny?_ Fine then. Be like that." Mandy punches Giovanni straight in his face- his nose, to be more specific. Giovanni reflexively covers his nose, pinching it lightly. He lets out a groan... Mandy smirks, "Music to my ears." He knees Giovanni in the stomach, dropping him. "I'm afraid that doesn't really count as talking though, does it?" He stomps on Giovanni's chest, causing him to wheeze. Why did _Mandy_ have to come? Why not anyone else? What about one of Mom's gal pals? But no, it just had to be Mandy. There goes his perfect morning.

Giovanni manages to mutter something under his breath, "Stop--" His voice is small and strained, he just wants to just curl up into a ball and be _allowed_ to cry. Mandy cuts him off, "--You'll have ta' speak up if you want me to stop." He stomps on Giovanni again- this time much lighter! ...but also on his neck. Giovanni screams- or at least, tries to. It comes out as a hoarse squeak instead. This- was Mandy trying to _kill_ him?

Mandy looks down at Giovanni, he seems... unsatisfied. "This ain't cutting it." He pauses before heading to the kitchen, mumbling, "Cutting it, eh?" Giovanni sits up slightly, thinking he's been let free. It might take a while to _actually_ stand up, though. He ribs and sternum hurt like hell- and his neck.. and face... ow. His eyes widen when he sees what Mandy came back with. Is that... "Yer lucky your mom's a drinker, or else I'd be hittin' you with a _full_ bottle, eh?" He holds the bottle by it's neck, raising it high above Giovanni's head, "Stay still, will you?" Giovanni, in fact, will not stay still. He will actually, get this, attempt to dodge the bottle! Woah! Though, the bottle still crashed onto the wall behind Giovanni-- and a couple of glass shards ended up.. in his face...

This stings. It stings- but not in the usual way. He feels like if he doesn't do _something_ he's dead- but what is that thing? He can't fight back or else-- else... There's no time to think about this. Mandy's raising his arm again. Time is passing by so slow but so quick at the same time. Do something, Giovanni.

And so, he did something. He dashed off, as if he weren't out of stamina. _He just needs to run_. Mandy says something, but Giovanni isn't paying attention. All he knows is that Mandy yelled some sort of.. thing. He swings the door open and just starts _running_. He needs to run. He needs to escape. He can't look back, that'll slow him down. That could cause his death. He doesn't want to die by the hands of Mandy. He wants... wants... what does he want..? Giovanni wants.. to escape. Yeah. He wants to run.

...no. Giovanni _needs_ to run. He doesn't _want_ to run. He's afraid. He's weak. He just keeps on running anyways, he doesn't _care_ if Mandy isn't following him anymore. It hurts to run. It'll only hurt more if he abruptly stops, so he'll just keep running. Keep running until you pass out, maybe? That'd be nice. Maybe a nice civilian would help him out. Maybe. He hopes he'll.. be.. okay..? Honestly, he just doesn't want _Mandy_ to be his killer. Mandy would make it painful. Slow. Scary. He doesn't want that. He just runs. And runs. And runs. He's already achieved the point of being tired, but he doesn't care. He can't. His face stings. His neck aches. His chest feels like it's about to collapse. But he _can't stop. It's not safe._

After all, safety is important. Maybe if he can find shelter before he passes out, then he'll stop. He doubts it, though. What, can he just prance into some building? House? Pssh, no. He can't do that. That's breaking and entering, a crime waaaaay higher than any crimes he has committed before. What? Do you think Giovanni hasn't ever ~~accidentally~~ stolen a wrist band? Yeah, I know, he is absolutely, positively, _hardcore_. Except for now. Right now, he's just weak. His running is a bit slower compared to when he started. He hates noticing things like that- noticing doesn't do anything! It doesn't change anything! The only thing you gained from that was knowledge in which just makes you feel _worse._

He takes a turn around a corner-- and.. trips. Perfect. He tripped on his _face_ too, so now the glass shards... sunk deeper... ow. Well, this-- wait. Wait. Wait! That means Mandy could catch up quicker- he turns his head for a quick second before getting up once more and continuing to run. When he turned his head he saw.. something. It was _a_ figure. Was it Mandy? Well. He doesn't know for certain, but he isn't going to wait to find out. He can just run. For. Eternity. He's okay with that. He just needs to stay as far away from Mandy as possible. His breathing feels weird. He'll be _fine_. He will be _alright_. Yo u'r e going to b e o k a y . Y o u ' r e f i n e

.

.

.. w a it .

Wait. That's- that's a building! An _apartment_ building! Meaning that if he gets lucky, he could get in at the same time as a resident of someone there...? It wouldn't hurt to try. He runs across the street, luckily(?) not being hit by any cars. J-walking, a new crime to the 'list' of crimes he's committed! Nice. Traffic is usually pretty low at this time of day, anyway. He runs up to the front, yelling to the man outside the door, _"Wait! Don't- don't close it!"_ The man stops, turning to Giovanni. He.. also had pink hair. It was kind of like.. a different hue? It was slightly less pink-ish. Well, anyways, the sight of a little boy who has shattered glass in his face as well as some red pretty visible on both his face and a bit of his neck catches him pretty off-guard.

Giovanni, on the other hand, is surprised he can even speak. He's panting, running like that with a random stop can really make you focus more on the fact that you were just running non-stop after being... hurt. He huffs, finally... at the door... "He's... gonna.. hurt me." Giovanni's voice is strained and tired, it's hard to _speak,_ "He's gonna _kill_ me. Oh- oh God." His voice's pitch raises as he continues, getting more and more paranoid by the second, "If I don't get somewhere he can't- I'm gonna be dead." His voice is switching from a call out to the man and moreso a process of thinking out loud, mumbling, "What'll he do..? He could stab me. Let me bleed out- what if it's slow?! What if he--"

"Kid."

Giovanni stops, trying to calm his breath. He looks up at the man, who's kneeling one foot down to match his height, "I'll let you in, don't worry. I need you to _breathe,_ okay?" Giovanni takes a few shaky breaths, trying to keep his gaze focused on the man. After a small moment, he.. realizes that Mandy hasn't caught up to him. Where is he..? "Okay, I'm going to open the door now, we can head to my room and I can treat your, uh.." He gestures to Giovanni's face. The man stands back up when Giovanni nods, opening the door. The two enter a room with walls of glass, the man swiping on something with a keycard, opening up the door.

The few people in the main lobby have a.. weird look on their faces when the two enter. They seem worried- but none of them are really _doing_ anything. Hopefully this guy isn't going to, you know, hurt Giovanni in unspeakable ways. The two head to the elevator quickly, the people here are kind of scary. Giovanni holds onto one of the man's arms, he doesn't know why, but it feels a bit... safer?

Luckily for them, there aren't any people in the elevator to give them _more_ weird looks. The man presses one of the top buttons, floor 19. Giovanni looks up at the man, mumbling, "Hey, uh, mister?" The man looks back at Giovanni, "Hm?" "What's your name? Mi- Mine's Giovanni. Giovanni Potage." Oh. Full names, eh? "Ramsey. Ramsey Gertieuge." He's.. somewhat telling the truth. He doesn't want the kid seeing Ramsey's actual name on the news, anyways. He doesn't wanna leave a bad influence on Giovanni, he's just a kid. Giovanni looks to the side, he's not used to elevators, "I like your name! _Ramsey Gertieuge..._ 's like a real bad guy name!!" You can almost see stars in Giovanni's eyes! Ramsey seems a bit.. confused, "And that's a good thing.. how?"

"Oh! Well- when I'm older, I'm gonna be a supervillain! The baddest bad guy around... but not a mean one! I'm not gonna hurt people." He gasps, "I'm gonna be a nonviolent supervillain!!! That'd be _so cool!"_ A small giggle escapes him, ooooh this plan is gonna fool proof! I mean, like, who would try to stop a nonviolent villain when there are are _violent_ villains to take care of? Hah! Ramsey pats Giovanni's head, "I'm sure you'll be a great nonviolent supervillain, kid." This kid seems nice, even if his goals are kinda.. skewed, his intentions are in the right place.

The elevator door opens- and a pretty high floor, too. As they walk out, Giovanni asks, "Is this.. the top floor?" Ramsey nods, "Yup. Sorry if yer afraid of heights, just don't look through any window blinds and you should be good." Giovanni mumbles a small "mhm" as Ramsey turns back, walking towards his apartment. An emotion is filled into Giovanni's guts, it feels.. warm. Not super warm, but warm. Like lukewarm orange juice..? There's a staircase next to that elevator and... it's going upwards. It's gotta lead.. to the roof... it's- it's dumb, I know, but it's so tempting. He's never felt like this before. He's felt fear, yes, he's felt a need to do things on impulse, definitely, but this is _different_. A part of his mind is telling him not to do it, but he isn't listening to it. He's letting the warm feeling take over. This is your chance, Giovanni.

Without a second thought, Giovanni runs upstairs. That's not safe, but neither is what he's about to do, so it's okay. By the time he's at the end of the staircase, facing a door, he can hear Ramsey's footsteps, _"Kid! What're you doing-" _He tries to open the door, but- it's locked. Okay, okay, this is _fine_. He pulls a lock pick out of his pocket, it's plastic, but it should work. Giovanni's been practicing lock-picking ever since the little _incident_ with Mandy. He jams it into the lock's corner, opening up the lock and flicking a switch- this is _the_ simplest lock. Just a scanning lock. Ramsey's catching up though, he can hear his footsteps.

He swings open the door, rushing to the edge of the building before.. stopping? His breath is heavy as he looks down at the city below him. It's as if the world stopped with him, he doesn't know whether to continue anymore. He's afraid. He doesn't know what he's afraid of, though. Maybe himself? It's like he has two of himself in one body. One wanting him gone and the other pleading to be alive. Tears prick his eyes but they aren't coming out. They're trapped. God, _he_ feels trapped. He doesn't feel like himself.

He hears footsteps- ah, right! The- the Ramsey guy! He turns quickly towards Ramsey, though not stepping closer, "D-Don't come any closer! Or! Or I'll jump!" And with that, Ramsey stops. Giovanni lets out a shaky sigh, "Tha-ank you." Ramsey looks at Giovanni, who is trying to avoid his gaze, "If- uh, if I can't come closer.. can I try to stop you? With.. words, er, somethin'?" Giovanni pauses for a second before answering, "..Yeah, okay. Okay. You can- you can do.. that." He feels split apart right now, half of his mind berating him for not jumping yet and the other half hoping Ramsey can help him. He doesn't want to die, but at the same time, he can't think of anything else he'd want to do.

The sight of this scared, hurt kid is.. new, to say the least. Ramsey's never been on the other end before. He sighs, "You're hurt- _really_ hurt, I get it, but things are gonna get better. This ain't gonna solve anythin'." Giovanni gulps, trying to get rid of this sinking feeling that he just _can't describe..._ it's still there. He looks down, still not wanting to meet Ramsey's eyes, "I don't care. It hurts- it hurts _too_ much and it's not just my face, okay? I don't care, I won't regret anything when I'm dead, right?" His voice is small yet also at his usual volume. He kind of.. sounds like he doesn't really believe himself.

"I guess you can't, but, there are people who're gonna miss you. Forever." Giovanni snickers, "Psh, they're _bound_ to forget me one day-" He shrugs, "-it doesn't matter." Huh. Okay, good, so this kid _does_ have friends! Or... uh, people that are probably his friends, "You're not as forgettable as you think, kid." Giovanni crosses his arms, mumbling, "Shut _up._ You're _wrong._ " He has to be wrong. Why else would Giovanni be up here?

"Am I, though?"

It's a simple question unless you... actually think about it. At least, from multiple perspectives. Of course, people shouldn't have to kill themselves, [and reader- I know this isn't part of the story, but I love and cherish you! If you're relating a bit too much with Giovanni here- just know that you _do_ matter and you aren't alone <3] [BACK TO THE STORY] but is Giovanni really that memorable? Does he really matter that much? If he mattered, he'd be in his room, asleep, not having to deal with Mandy, right? If he mattered, he'd be.. safe, I guess. He never feels alone much. But today.. hasn't started off as well as he'd like it to. He's fourteen now! Game changer! A whole 'nother year! But now he just wants to go back in time. He wants to stay there, that sleepover repeating over and over again, he doesn't want time to continue. He wants it all to stop- well, at least for his story to stop.

But the world doesn't revolve around him. He can't control stuff like that, hell, he probably isn't even inscribed! If he is, it's taking a hell of a long time to find out what his Epithet is. All the important people have Epithets. But that's besides the point! Giovanni can't go back and he can't skip this scene like this is some _movie._ He can't cover his ears, close his eyes, and just wait for his friends to nudge him to let him know 'hey, the scene's over!'. He either ends his movie now or just waits for this scene to be over with. He doesn't know which option's better anymore.

After a long pause, Giovanni finally answers in.. a small, weak tone, "I don't know." He really doesn't. He feels like he does, but he has two answers in his head. They're, uh, _vastly_ different from each other, "Well, I do. And I think you know my answer by now." Giovanni turns his head slightly to the side, still not wanting to meet Ramsey's gaze. He stays silent.

Ramsey holds his arms out- for a.. hug, hopefully this kid's okay with hugs, he's trying his best here, "Come on. You know what to do."

Giovanni finally meets Ramsey's eyes, a small glimmer of hope in his own. He seems.. apprehensive, "This is.. stupid." Ramsey chuckles, "I guess you could think that. I think you matter more than the stupid...-ness(?????)." Okay, that.. wasn't as useful as Ramsey thought it would be. He didn't word it right. Giovanni takes a step closer, but he doesn't look like he's really running into this guy's arms. At least he isn't as close to jumping off yet, "But- just- augh! I've come all the way up here just to _jump_ , but.. I still haven't! What's my reason to live? Hm? Because everything I can come up with is _stupid!"_

"Ehh, I dunno about that. There ain't a dumb reason to live, hell, if you're only living for a series? A small chance you might meet someone? _Those_ aren't dumb, so anything you're thinkin' ain't a dumb reason either. Staying alive's worth whatever you'd want it to be." Giovanni.. doesn't know how to counter that. He just stands there for a few seconds, processing what Ramsey just said over and over and over again... but he doesn't know how to properly speak against that. He looks down for a moment, still just trying to find _something_ to say.

He huffs, "I.. _guess_ you're right." Ramsey smiles, "Thank you!" He gestures to the open door behind him, "Now I think we can head back inside before someone tries calling th' cops to, uh-" He air-quotes, "-save ya'." Oh, thank _God_ , the situation has been officially... defused! Before any coppers came by and would probably add _way_ too much pressure on the kid.

Giovanni mutters _"Fine."_ under his breath as he walks back. Ramsey doesn't turn around to walk to the door until Giovanni is closer to it than he is- just in case, "Glad you came around." Giovanni mumbles something under his breath, it's not really.. comprehensible, it was just an "Mmh." to Ramsey. Silence fills the air as the two walk down the staircase. Ramsey doesn't really mind, he finds silence pretty peaceful. Safe, even. Giovanni, on the other hand, cannot _stand_ silence. It's deafening to him. He can't really think of much to say, though. He finds himself clinging to Ramsey's arm again, it's just _nice,_ okay??

Giovanni tries to break the silence as the two reach floor 19, "Thank you." His voice is small again, but.. it's not as sad. He ruffles Giovanni's hair, "'Course, wasn't like I'd just let you _die_ , kiddo." Giovanni lets out another "Mmh" as the two head closer to Ramsey's apartment, "Ah- yeah, also, is it fine if I treat your.. uh, injury? Don't know much about medic stuff but I've dealt with glass before." Giovanni nods, "Yeah, I think I'm getting tired of the sting. Or used to it, I.. don't know the difference???"

Ramsey digs around his jean pockets, "Mh, probably irritated." He pulls out a key and unlocks the door, "Come in- might not be the neatest place out there though." He just got jumped yesterday, it took a while to clean things up. He doesn't think a kid needs to know about that though. Giovanni sort-of scans the room as he walks in, it looks.. kiiind of neat? It's like how his room looks like after His Boys come over and they _try_ to clean up their mess, but Momma's gonna help them actually clean it up after that. They get a snack at the end, too!

Ramsey gestures to his couch, "I'll be getting some tweezers, in the meantime you can sit there." Giovanni mutters, "M'kay." as he walks to the couch. He plops down on it, and then it dawns on him. His legs are _tired_. Normally, his legs would be swinging subtly but they're just... tired. It's like all the adrenaline from earlier is just escaping from him. He feels so tired now. But he just slept! He doesn't need to sleep! This'll pass! This has to! Augh, just thinking with exclamation marks is tiring.

While Giovanni is having his own fight against himself for consciousness, Ramsey is searching through his cupboards for a _clean_ pair of tweezers. He doesn't want the kid getting tetanus or.. something. Plus some food, too. He's gotta know what kind of food the kid likes in case he's a picky eater- or has allergies, duh, you almost forgot that, Rams. He eventually finds a pair with no rust, that's good. Just gotta clean it a bit to make sure and then it should be safe to use... this'll take some time, won't it?

He walks back into the living room with the pair of tweezers, "Auh, kid, I gotta clean these which'll.. take a bit. How're you holding up?" Giovanni got a bit startled there from Ramsey's voice, which is _dumb_ because he should've expected Ramsey to, you know, talk? Despite his tired state, he manages to form a few words, "'m doin'.. good." Giovanni's voice was a bit slurred there.. you know, he just has a woozy vibe all around. Ramsey raises a brow, "You sure?" Giovanni nods, "Mhm. Just tired." The amount of tiredness? Undisclosed, sorry!

" _M'kay.."_ Ramsey can tell Giovanni's tired, that's for sure, but he doesn't really think that's all. It's fine, he just needs to boil some water and he can check up on the kid again. He walks into the kitchen and picks his kettle up- luckily _that_ wasn't damaged. He fills it up and sets it back in it's spot, flicking a small switch. It doesn't take long to boil usually, so he just needs to wait for this to heat up... ah, right. He rinses the tweezers before opening up his cupboard and sets one of the bowls in it onto the counter. He isn't going to just put tweezers _inside of a kettle_ , he has _standards_. After a small moment... the switch flicks back to it's normal position! A-mazing.

Ramsey pours the boiling water into the bowl, setting the tweezers in afterwards. _Now_ he can check up on the kid.

He walks back into the living room, giving Giovanni a small wave. Giovanni doesn't really seem to notice the wave- he seems more spaced out than anything. No, not spaced out, it's.. kind of like he's trying to focus on _something_ but Ramsey doesn't really know what he's trying to focus _on_. Ramsey tilts his head to his side a bit, confused, "Uh, kid? You alright?" Giovanni's shoulders straighten quickly as he hears Ramsey, "Auh- uh- yeah! I'm- I'm fine." He rubs the back of his neck, "Sorry, was spacing out a bit there..." He's careful not to press too hard on his neck or to touch anything too close to the front of it. It kind of.. uh... aches..?

Ramsey leans on the couch, "O-kay, well- do you wanna watch somethin'? There's gotta be some channel you like watching, right?" Giovanni pauses for a moment, "Oh. Hm. Yeah, okay, uh..." -He picks up the remote on the coffee table in front of him- "I was watching this with My Boys last night- I think the marathon's still going, actually." His voice is a bit more relaxed now, comfortable, even. I mean, a part of him _is_ kind of like 'Hey, why are you just willingly entering this strange probably-murderer guy with a very bad-guy name's apartment?' but the other parts are more focused on... not having most of the top half of his body ache and sting. He turns on the TV and switches it to channel 25. An ad is playing.

"The show's pretty good- y'know, the plot is like... _super_ deep??? It looks super innocent but it's, like-" He makes an explosion-like motion with his hands, "- _Pshooom!_ Like that!" Ah. Almost like every modern cartoon Ramsey has seen, but he understands why Giovanni seems interested in it. If he saw shows like that more often as a kid he'd be amazed too! He smiles, "Oh? Sounds pretty neat then, kiddo." Giovanni hums a small "mhm" as he focuses his attention back to the TV, the ad just ended...

* * *

"Whaaaaat?!" The three yell out in unison, shocked. One of them is an orange-haired boy, the tallest out of the three. He's wearing a ripped jean jacket with a white shirt underneath. It has a red symbol on it- like two dragons, maybe? It's hard to tell. Another is a brunette girl, who's to the right of the boy. She has a fuscia coloured thin vest over her plain black t-shirt. The last of the three- the one to the left of the boy- is the shortest. She has blue hair and... what is probably a dress? It's hard to tell, this shot is more of a bust shot than a full-body shot.

The.. 'camera' moves to another character, she has orange hair as well. She's wearing a t-shirt that seems to be the same as the orange-haired boy alongside a sweater wrapped around her waist, "I know, I know, it sounds crazy! But I _swear_ I'm not lying!" Her voice is a bit lower than you'd expect, it sounds mature but in a.. 'cool' way. Not any other way to really describe it.

The orange-haired boy shakes his head, his hands moving around a bit, "Woah woah woah, so you're saying that..." He plants his gaze back onto.. _probably_ his sister, "Maine might still be... here? On Earth? _Alive??"_ His voice is young, yes, but moreso one of the voices people would use for the smart-type boys who.. solve mysteries at a shack! Or. Something? The shortest girl speaks up, "That's total horse-talk! Stop messing with us, Kae!" Her voice, as you'd expect, is pretty high-pitched.

'Kae' raises her hands up defensively, "I'm not! I'm telling you the truth, Bran said so!" The three speak in unison once more, _" BRAN?!" _This show is.. a bit loud, eh? The brunette has her arms a bit far apart, almost like a shrug, "Ohoho-oh, yeah, _right_ , like Bran of all people would trust _you!_ Do you think we're stupid!?" Her voice is.. mundane. It can't be described as low or high pitched, it's just... 'normal'? But _too_ normal.

"C'mon, guys! Trust me here! I know I've done some.. questionable things... but-" Her presumed brother interrupts, his arms are crossed, "Stop. We don't wanna hear it." Kae's pupils are now animated with more glistening than before, "What? But, Mev-" Her voice _sounds_ sad. Though that isn't seeming to be convincing enough for the the three as the shortest girl speaks, "You heard him. We aren't gonna believe you unless you somehow just _get Bran here_ _yourself."_ She looks back at the other two, "Come on, guys. Let's go spend our time on something _worthwhile_."

* * *

Ramsey looks down at the digital clock under the TV, 9:55, okay, he's just going to hope that means it's been five minutes... it probably wasn't. He stands back up from his leaning position, "O-kay, I'm gonna get back to those tweezers now before they.. melt? I dunno." Giovanni just does a small nod, still captivated in the show. That show should keep him happy for a bit, Ramsey, though.. that show's a bit too loud for his tastes.

He walks back to the kitchen and searches through the drawers... he has a cloth _just_ for cleaning the important stuff... somewhere. He hasn't used it in a while, though. Where did it go??? He could've sworn he had it in the second last drawer... red and white, red and white, where are you? He rummages through the drawers more and more swiftly over time, it's.. it's supposed to be _here_. Come on, come on...! Ah! There we go, he just needed to recheck the cupboards- why was it in the cupboards...???? That doesn't matter, at least he found it.

He pours out some of the water into the sink, not all of it though- he's trying not to pour the tweezers in the sink. He uses the cloth as a somewhat-glove and picks up the tweezers.. oh, these are hot alright. He sets the cloth down on the counter with the tweezers in the center of it. This'll just take a minute or two to dry and cool down.

And so... he waits. He can already kind of hear that show from the kitchen- it ain't the kid's fault though. The kitchen and the living room are almost the same room, plus the walls in this place are.. pretty thin. For the show to not be fully-audible from his kitchen, Giovanni's probably lowered the volume a bit. What a nice kid. It's too bad whatever happened to him, well, happened. It's a good thing he's getting treatment quick, though! His ability to trust a random not-so-old-yet guy is kind of concerning, though. Ramsey's glad that _he_ was the one entering the building and not some, I don't know, criminal with barely any morals??? There's a reason Ramsey's living in _this_ building, it's like a safezone for most criminals. Kind of. What I'm saying here is that no one calls the cops on anybody here, but you can still get busted in other ways- which, to some, could be way worse than being arrested.

That varies person-to-person, though. Ramsey's kind of in the middle, but he knows that no matter where he lives, somebody out for his head's gonna find him anyway. Why not live in a place like this? It's so obvious that they wouldn't even think of it as his potential base- unless they were either _really_ dumb or way too smart. The smart ones usually have better things to do, though. Usually.

He leans on the counter, just a bit more time... He's feeling that _one_ feeling you get when you're about to feel something different than your previous emotion- for way too long. That's what happens though when you're relying on your gut, though. You gotta wait for your gut to say one thing, and while you wait you also have to differentiate other emotions so then you _know_ when your gut's speaking. It's almost done, he can tell.

And there we go, only took three sections of text! He picks up the tweezers, they're pretty room temperature right now, so that's good. He wipes off any excess water off with the cloth before walking back into the living room, "Kid? I cleaned the tweezers." Giovanni sits up again- he must've started slouching subconsciously, "Oh! Uh, yeah- the ads just started again so... you can.. do the thing? What's it called? The thing where you use the tweezers?" Ramsey shrugs as he opens up a closet-like door, "Dunno." He peers into the.. closet? Food closet? Who knows, "What kind of food do you like? It's probably a good idea to get healed after I fix up the shards."

Giovanni thinks for a moment, "Uhh.. do you have any crackers?" Ramsey quickly scans over the food, "Not unless you like poison." Giovanni blinks, "..Poison??? Why do you have poison crac-" He gasps, "-So you _are_ a bad guy!" He's in the apartment of an actual bad guy! He.. isn't _as_ excited as he usually would be for this, but at least it's lifting his spirits a bit, "Eh, I guess so. Technically a criminal, only got caught for anything around a year ago-" He clears his throat, "-Not that that's a good thing! Don't do crimes! Or, euh, don't do bad crimes!" Geez, Ramsey, you need a new kid filter? Why don't you just tell the kid what jail's like too while you're at it?

"What counts as a bad crime?" Ramsey thinks for a moment... "Murder, probably." Giovanni tilts his head oh-so-innocently, "What about arson?" _Wh- what?????_ Ramsey stammers, definitely not expecting _that_ , "Auh- Uh- H- J- Let's move on! What kind of food do you like- besides crackers?" Giovanni's eyes squint a bit as he thinks of an answer, "Uh... I like... chips. Do you have any of those?" Ramsey nods before grabbing two chip bags by their sealed tops in one hand, "Yeup! Should heal you enough to where you can sleep off anything else. I need to fix up the whole.. glass stuff first." Giovanni nods, "Yyyeeah, probably a good idea."

Ramsey sits down next to Giovanni, setting the chips down, "This.. might hurt a bit." Giovanni does a small shrug, "I'm fine with that." A lot of stuff's hurting right now anyways, so a little bit more to stop the rest of the pain??? Perfectly fine with Giovanni. Okay, maybe not _perfectly_ fine, but you get the gist of what I'm saying, right? Ramsey nods, carefully using his free hand to keep Giovanni's head in place.

[Guess what, reader???? I'm not writing the part where Ramsey takes the glass out because 1. You and me both don't want to read that- and 2. That'd take another 24 hours to conjure up and I do not have any time 2 waste, this draft is gonna be killed so uh, skip, this isn't a real novel so it's fine shhhh]

The last shard clinks onto the table- he'll have to clean that later. He lets go of Giovanni's face- in which is a bit golden right now _(unknown to Giovanni)_ as to lessen the pain, "Aaand, done. How are you feeling?" Giovanni blinks, "A bit... weird, I dunno, I don't have stuff stabbed into me much so I think I just need.. a bit more time to get used to it..." It somewhat hurts to speak, but his face also feels a bit numb at the same time- _I wonder why_. Ramsey opens a packet of chips, "Ah, yeah, that sounds normal. You can have your chips now." He didn't want Giovanni's skin to like... morph onto the glass or something. That'd be.. bad.

Giovanni happily starts eating the chips, they're all dressed! His favourite! He can't really shake that tired feeling away, though. Maybe these chips'll help him get.. not tired. Not tired... what's the word for that agai- awake! Awake, yes, yes. Giovanni knew that. He knows words! Yes he does! Now, reader, I have particularly failed to mention how big these bags of chips are. They are not huge, they are not party-sized. They're a bit bigger than Ramsey's hands, if that's a good measurement. Giovanni finishes his first bag pretty quickly because of that- it healed... 7 HP! So that'll be 14 HP total when he finishes the next one... so Ramsey's probably right, a nap should heal up anything the snacks missed.

He rolls up a bag into a ball before stuffing it into the other chip bag once he's finished, "Done!" He hands the bag _(err... bags)_ to Ramsey, "Nice. How are you feeling?" Giovanni thinks for a moment, slowly blinking, "Uhh.. tired? But better." The red forming on his skin, in hindsight were probably just bruises forming- but they're gone now so that's one thing he doesn't need to worry about! "Oh- yeah, that makes sense. You seemed pretty out of breath when I saw you, anyway." Giovanni does a slow nod, "Mhm.." He's leaning on the couch more than before now, it's.. kind of subtle? It's not subtle enough for Ramsey not to notice, though.

Despite the fact that the chips _did_ heal him, there's specific stuff for stamina, food only does so much after a certain energy usage. Ramsey tries to ask Giovanni how tired he is- but he fell asleep before Ramsey could really.. start the sentence. Well. I guess he has to deal with an unconscious kid for a bit, then.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah okay maaaybe Mandy was just added because I found out gio had 2 moms and I didnt wanna disrupt the lovely lesbians and his bio dad never met him or knew of him, so, uh, cousins [jazz hands]
> 
> the draft time of this chapter is one day away from deleting itself so sorry if this looked rushed ;;=v=


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